Maidenhead blown away by Cockles after break

Exmouth have taken over at the top of National Three South West, but not by much, after beating cellar dwellers Maidenhead 67-12.

The scoreline was about right – it tallied with most of Maidenhead's meetings with top-five sides this season – although the manner Exmouth went about winning was a little unusual.

Maidenhead belied their position at the foot of the table through the first half to turn around just 17-12 down but were blown away in the second half.

"After 40 minutes Maidenhead were out on their feet and we had the possession to dominate the second half," said Exmouth head coach Jon Hill.

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"To score 50 points to nil in 40 minutes is quite a feat. At times we seemed to open them up at will."

Victory puts Exmouth top on points difference from former leaders London Irish, who were 25-17 losers at Weston.

As there is still half a season to go, you won't catch Hill getting carried away. "There are a ridiculous number of league points left to play for and a lot can happen," he said.

Tom Kill bagged a try hat-trick, Jack Downie, Dave Bargent and George Savage got a try each while the rest of the points came from Andrew Powell and Mark Wathes.

While Exmouth may be thinking wistfully about promotion, Barnstaple's focus has been on staying away from the other end of the table. Barum beat Old Patesians 19-16 at Pottington Road in a game of very few highlights but a huge number of punch-ups.

"It is a game best forgotten, other than for the fact we got the result we wanted," said Barum's director of rugby Kevin Squire.

"I feel confident saying we don't have to worry about relegation from here on in, something which has dogged us almost every season since we got back in this division three years ago."

Sam Roberts notched a try and there were three penalties and a conversion for Luke Berry.

Brett Stroud claimed a push-over try two minutes from time to give Newton Abbot a 31-27 win at Brixham.

Taunton remain just clear of the drop zone in National Two South in the wake of their 57-40 home defeat by Worthing.

The Titans trailed 45-5 at the break and, in the words of assistant coach Keith Brooking were "lucky it wasn't any more".

"After a few harsh words at half time we were very good in the second half, but had left to too much to do," he said.

Jack Claydon, Sam Richardson, Gary Kingdom, Tony Yapp and Aaron Struminski were the Taunton try scorers.